I'm going to study abroad in Canada starting this september! The class begins almost in no time.

Actually, I'm really apprehensive now because I'm not sure whether I'll be able to make myself understood in English.

Anyway, all I can do is to try my best as much as possible.

I'd like to show you my favorite words.

"One more step, and you'll be into the another world."

This is not a proverb which some cereblities or famous people said. This is the proverb I made(so this may be a incorrect English phrase).

What I'd like to say through this proverb is that in order to realize your dream all you have to do is just take one small step everyday. When you work on a hard issue or pursue your dream, you'll definitely suffer from lots of stress and anxiety and try to run away from your purpose. This is inevitable when you work on something difficult. and I can see you might not want to continue working on your work. To those who feel like this, some people would say "you must continue to work however demansing it is. But I'm not going to say such a thing(/ I don't agree with it). I just want to say "When you feel down, you don't have to continue to make further efforts. But just before you stop working, take just only a small step. Even those who can't make much futher efforts, who can't take much more steps can take one small step. And I think accumulation of such small steps will lead you the another world, which is beyond the present world you are in. If you can take one small step,you are now in the process of realizing your dream.

During my studying abroad, I'll confront many kinds of difficulties and feel down. In that time I make it a rule to remember my favorite proverb and take my steps toward my dream.

Posted at Tue Sep 18 16:35:03 UTC 2012]]>http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/1684243
http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/1684243yukiTue Sep 18 16:35:03 UTC 2012yuki : University entrance exam (0)
In japanese entrance exam, we have english composition question. We translate japanese into english.

Attached picture is a part of the question. We have to translate this japanese into English.

Though I'm a university student I try to answer it. Below is my answer to the question. I would be glad if you correct.

(1)We can’t know each other well because human character is in fact more complex than we expect. However, we sometimes feel as if we were friends for decades although we meet for the first time. Of course this feeling is a kind of illusion. However when we look back and think why we have got along with each other for a long time, this kind of illusion can be the cause.

(2)In my opinion, it is important for young people, whether they are male or female, to cook by themselves because cooking is good for your health. In order to cook delicious dishes, you need to imagine what kind of dishes you will make in the end and to handle food and tools like knives, chopsticks and so on skillfully. Besides, if we come to cook, we will become interested in food and this attitude leads our attention to the nature. What is more, if you can cook to welcome your friends or cook with them, you will get along with them for a long time in the future.

Actually, I went snowboarding in Nagano Prefecture for 5 days and have came back home this morning. So I'm really realy tired now... but of course it was really fun:-)))

I have no idea whether Nagano is famous for those who are interested in japan. I thik it may be because some years ago Olympics were held there. What is Nagano famous for? Well, there are many special points. As I said, it is famous for winter sports like skiing, snowbording, skating and so on. It has also very delisious fruit like grapes, blueberries etc. Among all of them, Nagano is very fomous for delicious apples. So when you go there for sightseeing and visit souvenir shops, you can find many kinds of souvenirs related to apples.

Naturally, I bought one named 'zakuzaku rimgo kuranti.' I don't know how should I translate this into Engish. But for your understanding, I give you some hints. 'Zakuzaku' is a kind of sound that is made when you eat something dry or with a little water like cookies or crunch. 'Rimgo' means apples, and English translation of 'kuranti' is 'crunch.'

When seeing what is witten on the pack, I've got a question. I want you to see the lower right of the surface of the box. It says 'APPLE CHOCOLATE CRUNCH You will taste the deliciousness of the ingredients used in this confectionery.' What do you think about this expression? Do you think this expression is natural? For japanese lerners of English, abstract terms like 'deliciousness' is hard to use when we make sentences.

I want your comment.

Posted at Mon Feb 27 04:16:51 UTC 2012]]>http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/1335929
http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/1335929yukiMon Feb 27 04:16:51 UTC 2012yuki : Long time no see!! (3)I've decided to start to write journals here again.So would you help me write correct one, checking if there are any mistakes?

Of course I will correct your journals to help you with your study!!

Let's work on our language sudy with each other!!!

Posted at Sat Feb 18 04:21:58 UTC 2012]]>http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/1320991
http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/1320991yukiSat Feb 18 04:21:58 UTC 2012yuki : Follow me if you don't mind. (3)
These days I use facebook and write short sentences about my daily lives (In fact, there's no diary system on facebook.) because I can easily access it with my iPhone.

I hope an iPhone application for Lang-8 will be invented,then I can use it more often.

Anyway, if you don't mind, why don't we become friends also on facebook?

Please,look for my page with the word 'Yuki Matsumoto'.But I think there are many Yuki Matsumotos, so please choose one with the same picture at the begining of this diary.

I'll wait for your contact:->

Posted at Thu Mar 31 06:16:24 UTC 2011]]>http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/868581
http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/868581yukiThu Mar 31 06:16:24 UTC 2011yuki : 'I was tired from being a bookkeeper.' (2)The phrase 'be tired from doing' means ～して疲れた and 'be tired of doing' means ～することに飽きた. Whether the preposition used in the idiom is OF or FROM leads very huge difference. So everyone, don't make a mistake!

But the other day I was surprised to hear in fact the phrase 'be tired from doing' doesn't exist.

Is this true? I want to know the truth!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The following is just a practice.

'Kyoto station is about thirty minutes' train-ride from Osaka.'

'Kyoto University is thirty minutes' bus-ride from Kyoto station.'

'If you take the train to Kyoto university, you have to change trains twice.'

'These days, less and less young people have the chance to write love letters by hand.'

It is widely known there are a lot of earthquakes in Japan, but the problem is that you can't predict where and when there will be an earthquake.

For I live in kansei area, my family and I are all right naturally. Here in kansai area, we lead the same life as before. I get up in the morning after I got enough sleep, and have a breakfast. And after usual breakfast, my father go to the office and work for his family as usual. To be honest, the earthquake have little DIRECT influence on our daily lives.(Of course, it has much inderect influences on us. This is shown by the fact that I'm very very worry about people in kanto, partly becase many of my frieds live there.) To tell the truth, when I watch devastating scene on TV, I can't still belive such a catastrophe really happened in Japan.

Anyway, I hope the situation will be all right and people can get back their smiles on their faces as soon as possible.

These days I'm working on studying English a little bit harder than before.But I'm suffering a kind of setbak. Although I can read something in English to some extent, for example a news paper such as CNN,BBC, The New York Times and so on, I can't speak English well...(In fact, I'm also poor at writing in English. But I'm poorer at speaking.)

I think one of the reasons why I can't speak English is I don't have many oppotunities to talk with non-japanese people in English. But at the same time, I also think I manage to brush up my speaking ability to some extent by reading books or listenig to many materials in English.So nowadays I'm reding a lot of newspapers and books and watching videos or movies in English and thinking how can I get a chance to express in English. Of course, one of the ways is here Lang-8! I'll try to write more journals than before!And in addition, if I can get a chance to talk with non-japanese in English, it couldn't be better!!! But the problem is how can I gat the chance. Then I came across an idea that Skype is one of the ways.

What do you think about my idea? Can you tell me your opinions or ideas?

p.s.This is an example sentence.In reality, I don't have a girlfriend :'-(

My friend, who is a non-Japanese, boasted that he had five girl friends and has been busy going out with them. So I told him you shouldn't do that and must love just one woman. Then he said to me 'Why? We are all happy!! There's no problem!' I couldn't say anything to him...

'What's the most pleasant thing about my stay with an American family is that parents treated me just like their son.'

'It has been a week since I began a part-time job at a convenience store, but I'm already get used to it.'

I've worked as a part-time job at a convenience store for only a week, but I already get used to it.

'Less than twenty four hours after I return to my hometown, I find myself talk(or talking?) in the local dialect.'

'We human beings learn to make ourselves understood by the age of five or six.'(I'd like to mean 'We human beings learn to express what we think by the age of five or six.')

Most Japanese tend to mistake 'I went shopping at(in) Tokyo.' for 'I went shopping to Tokyo.' This is because when we taught how we use 'go', we are told to to use it with 'to'. This mistake is one of the major mistakes.Concerning to this kind of matter, I have one quetion.The other day, I read a reference book for the study of English.In the book, the author says that when you want to say [この夏にヨーロッパ旅行にいきました。] in English, you can say 'We went on a trip to Europe.'

It's true we Japanese taught the idiom 'go on a trip to ~'. However, I think it's more appropriate to say 'We went on a trip in Europe.' because the original Japanese sentence means that the traveling area we get around is Europe, but on the other side, the sentence 'We went on a trip to Europe.' seems to mean that the traveing area is on the way to Europe.

What do you think about my opinion? Wuold you tell me your judgement?

Posted at Mon Feb 14 01:23:07 UTC 2011]]>http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/808729
http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/808729yukiMon Feb 14 01:23:07 UTC 2011yuki : I've come back!! (1)First of all, I have to apologize to all of you for my late reply to your kind comment. :'( I'm so sorry.

I've been busy preparing for my term-end examination, so I didn't have time to log in here.

However, I managed to overcome all of my exams.

This means my spring vacation has come!

I have many things to do in this vcation.

I have to study Germany and logic because I need them in order to understand deeply ethics, which is my major .

In addition, I want to study existentialism because existentialist's idea has been my motive for my studying philosophy at university.

Of course I'll never forget to write essays here in order to develop my English ability!

So when I write a diary here, please correct my sentences!

Needless to say, I'll help your language study if I could:-)

Posted at Sun Feb 13 19:38:26 UTC 2011]]>http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/808504
http://lang-8.com/231117/journals/808504yukiSun Feb 13 19:38:26 UTC 2011yuki : What's the difference? (9)So if someone has a very cute girlfriend we often say things like 'Hey! You are a happy man aren't you?'

In this kind of situation, which phrases are more natural 'we envy him very much.' 'We feel jealous of him.'?

I think the word 'jealous' has very negative meaning. When we don't have any negative feeling for him, is it more appropriate to use 'envy' or 'envious'?